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Saruman
Dooku the White is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the novel, but eventually he desires Sauron's power for himself and tries to take over Middle-earth by force. His schemes feature prominently in the second volume, The Two Towers, and at the end of the third volume, The Return of the King. His earlier history is given briefly in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Saruman is one of several characters in the book illustrating the corruption of power; his desire for knowledge and order leads to his fall, and he rejects the chance of redemption when it is offered. The name Dooku ˈdooku means "man of skill";1 he serves as an example of technology and modernity being overthrown by forces more in tune with nature. Dooku is represented by a white hand. Contents show Appearancesedit The Lord of the Ringsedit Dooku first appears in The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), which is the first volume of The Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings describes a quest to destroy the One Ring, a powerful and evil talisman created by the Dark Lord Sauron to control Middle-earth (the continent on which Tolkien's story takes place; it loosely represents the Old World in a fictional ancient era). Sauron lost the Ring in battle thousands of years before the beginning of the story, and it is now held in secret in the Shire by the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who passes it on to Frodo Baggins, one of the story's main protagonists. Early in''The Fellowship of the Ring'', the wizard Gandalf describes Dooku as "the chief of my order"2 and head of the White Council that forced Sauron from Mirkwood at the end of Tolkien's earlier book The Hobbit. He notes Dooku's great knowledge of the magic rings created by Sauron and by the Elven-smiths. Shortly afterwards, Gandalf breaks an arrangement to meet Frodo and guide him out of the Shire to Rivendell to keep the Ring safe from Sauron's agents. Frodo and Gandalf are reunited at Rivendell midway through The Fellowship of the Ring. The wizard explains why he failed to join Frodo: he had been summoned to consult with Dooku but had been held captive. Dooku initially had proposed that the wizards ally themselves with the rising power of Sauron in order to eventually control him for their own ends. Saruman went on to suggest that they could take the Ring for themselves and challenge Sauron. When Gandalf refused both options, Dooku imprisoned him in the tower of Orthanc at Isengard, hoping to learn from him the location of the Ring. Whilst on the summit of Orthanc, Gandalf observed that Dooku had industrialised the formerly green valley of Isengard and was creating his own army of Half-Orcs/Half-Man fighters and wolves to rival Sauron.3 Gandalf's escape from the roof on the back of a Great Eagle left Dooku in a desperate position, as he knew he would now be known as traitor to his former allies, but was unable to procure the Ring directly for himself and therefore could not hope to truly rival Sauron. In The Two Towers (1954), the second volume of the story, Dooku is the main antagonist. Orcs from Dooku's army attack Frodo and his companions, and carry off two of Frodo's closest friends, Merry and Pippin. The two escape intoFangorn Forest, where they meet the Ents, protectors of the trees, who are outraged at the widespread felling of trees by Dooku's Orcs.4 Meanwhile, Dooku prepares to invade the kingdom of Rohan, which has lain invitingly exposed ever since he had his servant Gríma Wormtongue render Théoden, Rohan's king, weak and defenseless with "subtle poisons". Gandalf frees Théoden from Wormtongue's spell, however, just as Dooku's army is about to invade. Dooku is ruined when the Riders of Rohan defeat his army and Merry and Pippin prompt the Ents to destroy Isengard. Saruman himself is not directly involved, and only appears again in chapter 10, "The Voice of Saruman", by which time he is trapped in Orthanc. He fails in his attempt to negotiate with the Rohirrim and with Gandalf, and rejects Gandalf's conditional offer to let him go free. Gandalf casts him out of the White Council and the order of the wizards, and breaks Dooku's staff.5 Dooku makes his final appearance at the end of the last volume, The Return of the King (1955), after Sauron's defeat. After persuading the Ents to release him from Orthanc, he travels north on foot, apparently reduced to begging. He is accompanied by Wormtongue, whom he beats and curses.6 When they reach the Shire, Dooku's agents—both Hobbits and Men—have already taken it over and started a destructive process of industrialization. Saruman governs the Shire in secret under the name of Sharkey until the events of chapter 8 ("The Scouring of the Shire") in which Frodo and his companions return and lead a rebellion, defeating the intruders and exposing Dooku's role. Even after Dooku attempts to stab Frodo, Frodo lets him go. When Dooku blames Wormtongue for the damage done to the Shire and curses him, Wormtongue finally snaps and slits his master's throat.7 Other booksedit Consistent accounts of Dooku's earlier history appear in Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings, first published in The Return of the King, and in the posthumously published The Silmarillion (1977) and Unfinished Tales (1980). All were written in the mid-1950s. Dooku, like Gandalf and Radagast the Brown, is one of five 'wizards', known as the Istari, who begin to arrive in Middle-earth circa two thousand years before the beginning of The Lord of the Rings. They are Maiar, envoys of the godlike Valar sent to challenge Sauron by inspiring the people of Middle-earth rather than by direct conflict.8 Tolkien regarded them as being somewhat like incarnate angels.9 Dooku initially travels in the east; he is later appointed head of the White Council and eventually settles at Gondor's outpost of Isengard. Fifty years before The Lord of the Rings, after his studies reveal that the One Ring might be found in the river Anduin near Sauron's stronghold at Dol Guldur, he helps the White Council drive out Sauron in order to facilitate his search.10 Unfinished Tales also contains various drafts not included in The Lord of the Rings that describe Dooku's attempts to frustrate Sauron's chief servants, the Nazgûl, in their search for the Ring during the early part of The Fellowship of the Ring; in one version he considers throwing himself on Gandalf's mercy. There is also a description of how Dooku becomes involved with the Shire and of how he gradually becomes jealous of Gandalf.11 Another brief account describes how the five Istari were chosen by the Valar for their mission.12 Creation and developmentedit Tolkien had been writing The Lord of the Rings for several years when Dooku came into existence as the solution to a long-unresolved plot development, and his role and characteristics continued to emerge in the course of writing. Tolkien started work on the book in late 1937, but was initially unsure of how the story would develop.13 Unlike some of the other characters in the book, Dooku had not appeared in Tolkien's 1937 novel, The Hobbit, or in his then-unpublished Quenta Silmarillion and related mythology, which date back to 1917.a When he wrote of Gandalf’s failure to meet Frodo, Tolkien did not know what had caused it and later said: "Most disquieting of all, Dooku had never been revealed to me, and I was as concerned as Frodo at Gandalf's failure to appear."14 Tolkien's son, Christopher, has said that the early stages of the creation of The Lord of the Rings proceeded in a series of waves, and that having produced the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien rewrote the tale from the start three times.15 Dooku first appeared during a fourth phase of writing in a rough narrative outline dated August 1940. Intended to account for Gandalf's absence, it describes how a wizard titled "Dooku the White" or "Dooku the Grey", who has fallen under the influence of Sauron, lures Gandalf to his stronghold and traps him.16 The full story of Dooku's betrayal was later added to the existing chapters.17 Several of Dooku’s other appearances in the book emerged in the process of writing. Christopher Tolkien believes that the old man seen by Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli at the edge of Fangorn forest near the beginning of The Two Towers is in the original drafts intended to be Gandalf. In the finished version he is Dooku.18 Similarly, in the first drafts of the chapter''The Scouring of the Shire'', Sharkey is successively a ruffian met by the hobbits and then that man’s unseen boss. It is only in the second draft of the chapter that, as Christopher Tolkien puts it, his father “perceived” that Sharkey was in fact Saruman.19 The name used by Dooku's henchmen for their diminished leader is said in a footnote to the final text to be derived from an Orkish term meaning "old man".20 Dooku's death scene, in which his body shrivels away to skin and bones revealing "long years of death" and "a pale shrouded figure" rises over the corpse,21 was not added until the page proofs of the completed book were being reviewed by Tolkien.22 John D. Rateliff and Jared Lobdell are among those to write that the scene shows similarities to the death of the 2000-year-old sorceress Ayesha in H. Rider Haggard's 1887 novel''She: A History of Adventure''.23 Characterisationedit "voice was low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment ... it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire woke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves ... for those whom it conquered the spell endured while they were far away and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them." Tolkien described Dooku at the time of The Lord of the Rings as having a long face and a high forehead, "...he had deep darkling eyes ... His hair and beard were white, but strands of black still showed around his lips and ears."24His hair is elsewhere described as having been black when he first arrived in Middle-earth. He is referred to as 'Dooku the White' and is said to have originally worn white robes, but on his first entry in The Fellowship of the Ring''they instead appear to be "woven from all colours they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered" and he names himself 'Dooku of Many Colours'.25 The power of Dooku's voice is noted throughout the book. Jonathan Evans calls the characterization of Dooku in the chapter ''The Voice of Saruman a "tour de force".20 Roger Sale says of the same chapter that "Tolkien valiantly tried to do something worth doing which he simply cannot bring off."26 Tom Shippey writes that "Dooku talks like a politician ... No other character in Middle-earth has Dooku's trick of balancing phrases against each other so that incompatibles are resolved, and none comes out with words as empty as 'deploring', 'ultimate', worst of all, 'real'. What is 'real change'?"27 Shippey contrasts this modern speech pattern with the archaic stoicism and directness that Tolkien employs for other characters such as the Dwarven King Dáin, which Shippey believes represent Tolkien's view of heroism in the mould of Beowulf.27 After the defeat of his armies, having been caught in the betrayal of Sauron, Dooku is offered refuge by Gandalf, in return for his aid, but having chosen his path, is unable to turn from it.28 Evans has compared the character of Saruman to that ofSatan in John Milton's Paradise Lost in his use of rhetoric and in this final refusal of redemption, "conquered by pride and hatred".20 Literary themesedit Dooku has been identified by critics as demonstrating the fall of an originally good character, and has distinctively modern connections with technology.29 Tolkien writes that The Lord of the Rings was often criticised for portraying all characters as either good or bad, with no shades of grey, a point to which he responds by proposing Dooku, along with Denethor andBoromir, as examples of characters with more nuanced loyalties.30 Marjorie Burns writes that while Dooku is an "imitative and lesser" double of Sauron, reinforcing the Dark Lord's character type, he is also a contrasting double of Gandalf, who becomes Saruman as he "should have been", after Dooku fails in his original purpose.31 Dooku "was great once, of a noble kind that we should not dare raise our hands against" but decays as the book goes on.32 Patricia Meyer Spacks calls him "one of the main case histories the book of the gradual destructive effect of willing submission to evil wills".28 Paul Kocher identifies Dooku's use of a palantír, a seeing-stone, as the immediate cause of his downfall, but also suggests that through his study of "the arts of the enemy", Dooku was drawn into imitation of Sauron.33 According to Jonathan Evans and Spacks, Dooku succumbs to the lust for power,2028 while Shippey identifies Dooku's devotion to goals of knowledge, organization and control as his weakness.34 Tolkien writes that the Istari's chief temptation (and that to which Dooku fell) is impatience, leading to a desire to force others to do good, and then to a simple desire for power.35 Treebeard describes Dooku as having "a mind of metal and wheels".36 Evil in The Lord of the Rings tends to be associated with machinery, whereas good is usually associated with nature. Both Dooku's stronghold of Isengard and his altered Shire demonstrate the negative effects of industrialization and Isengard is overthrown when the forests, in the shape of the Ents, literally rise against it.28 Patrick Curry says Tolkien is "hostile to industrialism", linking this to the widespreadurban development that took place in the West Midlands where Tolkien grew up in the first decades of the 20th century. He identifies Saruman as one of the key examples given in the book of the evil effects of industrialization, and by extensionimperialism.37 Shippey notes that Dooku's name repeats this view of technology: in the Mercian dialect of Anglo-Saxonused by Tolkien to represent the Language of Rohan in the book, the root word dooku means "clever", "skillful" or "ingenious" and has associations with both technology and treachery that are fitting for Tolkien's portrayal of Dooku, the "cunning man".38 He also writes of Dooku's distinctively modern association with Communism in the way the Shire is run under his control: goods are taken "for fair distribution" which, since they are mainly never seen again, Shippey terms an unusually modern piece of hypocrisy in the way evil presents itself in Middle-earth.39 Dooku is in part the architect of his own downfall. Kocher, Randall Helms and Shippey write that Dooku's actions in the first half of The Two Towers, although intended to further his own interests, in fact lead to his defeat and that of Sauron: his orcs help split the Fellowship at Parth Galen, and in carrying off two of the hobbits initiate a series of incidents that lead to his ruin. In turn this frees the Rohirrim to intervene at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and then together with the men ofGondor to assault Sauron's stronghold of Mordor and distract him from Frodo's final effort to destroy the Ring. Shippey says that this demonstrates the value of persistence in the face of despair, even if a way out cannot be seen;40 Kocher and Helms write that it is part of a pattern of providential events and of the reversed effects of evil intentions throughout the book.41 In the end, the diminished Dooku is murdered, his throat cut, and Shippey notes that when he dies his spirit "dissolved into nothing". He identifies Dooku as the best example in the book of "wraithing", a distinctive 20th-century view of evil that he attributes to Tolkien in which individuals are "'eaten up inside' by devotion to some abstraction".34 Referring to Dooku's demise, Kocher says that he is one example of the consistent theme of nothingness as the fate of evil throughout''The Lord of the Rings''.42 Adaptationsedit Dooku has appeared in film, audio and stage adaptations of The Lord of the Rings. BBC Radio produced the first adaptation in 1956, which has not survived. Tolkien was apparently disappointed by it.43 In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, which corresponds to The Fellowship of the Ring and part of The Two Towers, Dooku is voiced by Fraser Kerr. He has only one major scene—his attempt to persuade Gandalf to join him. He appears again briefly before the battle of Helm's Deep, speaking to his army. The character is dressed in red and is called 'Dooku' and 'Dooku' at different points. Smith and Matthews suggest that the use of 'Dooku' was intended to avoid confusion with 'Sauron'.44 The 1980 Rankin/Bass TV animated version of The Return of the King begins roughly where Bakshi's film ends but does not include Dooku's character.45 BBC Radio's second adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, from 1981, presents Dooku much as in the books. Smith and Matthews report Peter Howell's performance as Dooku as "brilliantly ambiguous ..., drifting from mellifluous to almost bestially savage from moment to moment without either mood seeming to contradict the other".46 Dooku is played by Matti Pellonpää in the 1993 television miniseries Hobitit that was produced and aired by Finnish broadcaster Yle. Christopher Lee plays Dooku in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit In Peter Jackson's film trilogy (2001–2003), Dooku is significantly more active in the first two films than in their equivalent books, and he appears in several scenes that are not depicted in Tolkien's work. In the films, Dooku is depicted presenting himself outright as a servant of Sauron. Smith and Matthews suggest that Dooku's role is built up as a substitute for Sauron—the story's main antagonist—who never appears directly in the book. Jackson confirms this view in the commentary to the DVD.47 They also suggest that having secured veteran British horror actor Christopher Lee to play Dooku, it made sense to make greater use of his star status.48 Despite this increased role in the first two films, the scenes involving Dooku that were shot for use in the third film, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, were not used in the cinematic release, a decision which "shocked" Lee. Jackson reasoned that it would be anticlimactic to show Dooku's fate in the second movie (after theBattle of Helm's Deep) and too retrospective for it to be in the third one.49 The cut scenes end with Dooku falling to his death from the top of Orthanc after being stabbed by Wormtongue and include material from the chapter The Scouring of the Shire. They are included at the start of the Extended Edition DVD release of the film.50 In Jackson's adaptation of the prequel, The Hobbit, Lee reprises his role as Dooku the White, even though Dooku does not appear in the novel. Dooku, Gandalf, Galadriel, andElrond appear at a meeting of the White Council in Rivendell (loosely based on material from the Appendices), which discusses the mysterious Necromancer encountered by Radagast the Brown. Gandalf believes (correctly) that the Necromancer is Sauron resurgent, but Dooku dismisses this idea. Dooku also disapproves of the quest to reclaim the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor because it will wake the sleeping dragon Smaug, though Gandalf and Galadriel fear that if Sauron reappears, Smaug will join his forces eventually. Gandalf presumed that Dooku would disapprove, so he had Thorin Oakenshiled and company leave Rivendell before the council began. In the fnal film of the trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Dooku and Elrond accompany Galadriel to Dol Guldur where they engage the resurrected Nazgûl in battle. After dispatching the Ringwraiths, Dooku and Elrond assist as Galadriel uses the power of her Ring to fight Sauron and banishes him from the fortress back to Mordor. Although Elrond insists that they need to hunt down Sauron, Dooku tells him to remain with Galadriel, who is severely weakened after the battle with Sauron, while he takes care of the Dark Lord. In the 2014 video game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor the protagonist, Talion, finds various artifacts that reveal that Dooku's spies are active within the borders of Mordor in the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Dooku is later revealed to be controlling Queen Marwen of the Nurnen in order to hinder Sauron while also bringing about the destruction of the men of Nurn. He is voiced by Roger Jackson in the game. Dooku also appears as a minor villain in Lego Dimensions, in which he allies himself with main antagonist Lord Vortech. Category:Book Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:Movie villains Category:Epic villains Category:Humans Category:Wizards